Estonia approved an additional bill on the financing of defense financing by 2.8 billion euros to achieve targeted indicators of NATO capabilities. New expenses will push the Baltic country on average 5.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2029, and this ratio will grow compared to previous levels of 3.4 percent.
“We made a historical decision from the point of view of the national defense of Estonia. We never allocated such additional money for national defense in Estonia, ”said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevurku.
Pevkur, “The defense costs next year is about 5.4 percent, that is, it exceeds 2 percent per year and will remain at this level for a long time,” he said.
“On average, on average, on average, it is 5.4 percent, and this will give us the opportunity to achieve our goals of military abilities in NATO,” he said.
The government’s decision to increase defense expenses will lead to a significant increase in the number of military capabilities, equipment and shares, as well as more ammunition for the Estonian defense forces (EDF).
More average air defense, additional engineers, battalions with long intelligence agents, the possibilities of attack with long expenses, modern communication systems, an increase in marine capabilities, additional personnel will be included in the new bill.
EDF General President Andrus Merilo said that the need to strengthen the protection of Estonia was caused by the Russian security environment, which worsened from the large large -scale occupation of Ukraine. He also demonstrated Russia’s operational abilities as another threat to Estonia.
According to Merilo, Estonia should not only catch up with the development of the enemy’s abilities, but also leave him behind. An additional fund approved by the government will be used for this purpose.
Merilo, “The situation of our security policy simply puts us in this position and not only have to keep up with the military development of our enemy in order to be prepared for our duties, if possible, we must take at least one step forward with our allies in the coming years,” he said.
Estonia new plans arrived just a few weeks before the NATO summit, which will be held in the Hague on June 24-25. These plans also appeared after US President Donald Trump threatened to shake the alliance if 5 percent of the revised numbers were not fulfilled.
Previously, Trump accused NATO members of “vacationers” in Washington for their safety. The US President of the United States claimed that European allies did not invest in their own defense and left their defense in NATO and the United States in a broader sense.
In addition, the former Secretary General of the Alliance of Jens Stoltenberg during the reign of members of 2 percent of 2 percent of “pity” described as “pity”, and GDP members did not spend at least 5 percent of the defense costs, which the United States threatened to abandon NATO.